Kiev hopeful of Russia gas discounts, more talks next month

(KIEV) - Ukraine on Saturday said it hoped to secure a discount on Russian gas imports following tripartite talks with the European Union, which are due to resume in Berlin next month.

"The Ukrainian side hopes that the price will be $250 per 1,000 cubic metres in the second quarter," said Volodymyr Demchyshyn, Ukraine's Minister of Energy and Coal, according to a statement from his ministry.

In the first quarter of 2015, Kiev paid $329 per 1,000 cubic metres.

Friday's meeting in Brussels, also attended by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and brokered by European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic, was the first step in efforts to secure gas supplies to Kiev, and its transit to EU countries, through next winter.

A deal to ensure supplies for the current winter expires at the end of this month.

Novak confirmed in an interview with Russian state television that the gas price for Ukraine "would fall by $50-80" in the second quarter -- the so-called summer package -- given the fall in oil prices.

According to a joint statement issued after Friday's talks in Brussels, all parties agreed that "preparations for the supply for the next winter have to start now."

Russia will consider a request to grant Ukraine a discount and Ukraine will seek to purchase enough gas to fill its storage tanks while ensuring transit of supplies to Europe, it added.

Moscow slashed the discount it offers Ukraine after a pro-Western government took over in Kiev last year following the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych.

In earlier disputes in 2006 and 2009, Russian gas giant Gazprom halted deliveries to Kiev, causing huge disruption to European gas supplies at the height of winter.

The European Union receives about a third of its gas from Russia, with half that amount transiting via Ukraine pipelines.

The Berlin talks are set to take place on April 13 and 14, according to Demchyshyn.